Update, finally

I started working on my pictures, to see if I can get some uploaded in the photo bureau I'm a member of. A randomly selected picture from that - a bit melancholy but somehow I like it.

The picture doesn't match the early October days so far, luckily. It seems like every day until today has been sunny and beautiful. Now cloudy. I'm having a week or so free time after a very busy stretch. I finally got the article I've working on finished and sent to my friend for proofreading. 

Also my mother visited for a week which was nice. Last weekend grandma and two aunties took the nephews to a kids' activity centre in the city, an underground hall with bouncy castles, game machines, a "jungle track" etc. I sure got my excercise following the almost-six-year-old, climbing crawling in pipes on my knees and bouncing. Both nephews obtained a 'slimy hand', a hand made of some sort of slimy rubber that sticks everywhere when you throw it. Consequently, it took rather a long time to get out of the underground hall and across the market square to the McDonald's to eat. It's funny how things that little boys (or little and slightly older boys) find really cool invariably seem rather gross to grown-ups. :-) Monday, my sister's birthday, we and our mother had lunch at this vegetarian restaurant which always has fantastic food and where the pricing is per kilos: you take as much as you want and go to the counter where they charge you for how much your plate weighs. Then on tuesday further celebration on account of sister's birthday: we three, plus my brother, sister-in-law and nephews took a little trip to one of the outdoors areas in eastern Helsinki. We grilled sausages in one of the camping spots and then ate mocha pie on the rocks by the sea, watching the sunset. One of the pieces of the pie appropriately got to serve as a birthday cake, with a lit candle. Such a lovely little outing.

I also managed to get in the obligatory control visit - to keep the unemployment money running - to the employment office on monday, and that sure was troublesome. I got there at 11 am and there were 40 people in front of me in the queue, so it took three hours. I would have needed to come wait outside the door before opening time to get in first. They don't have a appointment system, and I felt sorry for the young mother at the reception, asking if they couldn't give her an appointment because she's a single mother with a baby, lives in eastern Helsinki and it's really difficult for her to arrange the time to come to office in central Helsinki. All she got was, "sorry, there's nothing we can do, you'll just have to work out something to get here early." At least they gave her more time.

I'm glad I got that done - and that the next visit isn't until April. I'm REALLY hoping I'll get the research grant that will be decided on sunday or the other one I applied for that will be decided on November 6th, so I won't have to go to the employment office for at least a month.

When my friend gets the proofreading done there'll be more work to do the corrections and do the formatting etc for whichever journal I'm going to send the article done. There's also two more funding applications to do this month. But for at least until the 15th, I'm going to just take it easy.